


Genius Forever

by Bonnie_lassie



Category: Highlander - All Media Types, Highlander: The Series
Genre: Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:23:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bonnie_lassie/pseuds/Bonnie_lassie
Summary: Claudia has learned to enjoy music again and her mortal friends want her to play a concert, but Claudia refuses because it’s not long ago she was a star and she would be remembered for it.
Kudos: 1





	Genius Forever

**Genius Forever** **– Timeless**

Rain was pouring down over her head. Her oldest friend had died, and heaven was crying to bid him farewell. She was standing over his grave and could not believe her eyes. The written words could not be further from the truth.

He had taught her. He had found her when she had been not older than a child, and throughout the years he had supported her and her talent. Duncan MacLeod had been the friend she could always count on.

He was there when she first found out who she truly was. He had wanted to protect her, and he had aimed to help her protect herself, but Claudia Jardine did not want to hear about it. Her talent was more important to her than life. She wanted to play the music of her heart and to feel it, she had needed to feel mortal.

Death was on her mind whenever she felt another of her kind close to her. The alert she was given was ignored many times, and it should have been her end. Someone should have taken her head and end the show; but luck had been on her side one too many times.

It was Duncan the Highlander who was taken without warning. He who could yield a sword and dance with the blade. He should be alive and standing at her grave, but instead Claudia was looking down at him and could not believe her eyes.

~*~

“I’m sorry for your loss, Claudia. How long did you know him?” Trent was washing dishes and Claudia took off her black gloves before she dried a single tear, “He was my oldest friend, Trent. I knew him since I was fourteen and he has always been there for me and any of his friends. Any of us could come to him at any time and he would listen, he would help us, and he would never forget us”

“He sounds like a great guy. I’m sorry you lost him” Trent spoke with support and understanding in his voice. He let the dishes be and cleaned his hands to walk closer to Claudia and put a hand on her shoulder. “If you need anything, you know you have more friends who care about you”

“Yes, I know, and I’m grateful for each of them. But all of you only know me like I am today; Duncan was the last who knew me as someone else. I was a spoiled brat once because I thought that, whatever I do wrong, Duncan will magically fix it for me” Claudia smiled weakly and nodded to the piano instead, “I will be okay. I will spend this afternoon playing a bit. I think he would have liked it”

“You are an outstanding talent, Claudia; of course he would have liked it” Trent did not stay to hear her play but left her flat to return to his own flat one level lower than her apartment.

Her life was a lot different than her dreams when she was younger. She did not live in a flat high above Paris and neither in a Mansion in any large city.

Claudia had changed since she saw Duncan last. She lived in her one room studio flat in Chicago and the view outside her window was a grey building like her own. Her kitchen was small, and her bed was large enough for one.

The only luxury was her piano. The talent she never gave up on was with her wherever she went.

To sit at the piano and playing Chopin reminded her of Duncan and of the times when she was feeling mortal. No one thinks constantly of death while they can die, but within the immortals it is a thought which becomes one’s enemy.

Claudia had decided against the fight and was still alive. She was able to play music, but she was not allowed to be on stage anymore. She had not aged, and this would cause suspicion. She had to live away from the glamour and find herself. Find out if there was anything else that made her who she was.

And without Duncan, she would have to learn how to fight if she wanted to stay alive.

When she had denied it before, she still thought of him being her knight in shining armour, but this was no longer an option. Here and now she had to come to a new decision. It was the one decision she could not carefully choose in advance. Time does not stand still, not even for immortals.

It might sometimes tick slower but not less general to immortals. Time was moving one as usual, but at times repetitive to the times and failures make around them. Immortals did not have a second chance at the same go, but on the long one they received answers never asked.

Someone to talk to. Someone to trust.

Those were the most important questions and until last time she had been asking them, her opinions had changed.

She had only a few friends when she became immortal and she knew of none to share her secret with. Claudia was used that other artists envied her for her talent and her beauty. She had been spoilt, eating at the best restaurants, tricking men, and making them believe they could have what they want, but all her game play had faded now.

Claudia lived an ordinary life and she had found true friends who would not laugh at her, but would they understand. Claudia was not willing to find out and force to leave. For the first time she felt like she had found a home, and yet it was still filled with music.

She had begun to compose her own work but did not share it with the world. The only world that mattered anymore were her friends and herself. Maybe age had made her wiser. Maybe this is how Duncan must have felt like, and she had to admit she had always admired him for his patience and wisdom.

Now she was on the right way herself.

~*~

“Can you hear this?”

“Doesn’t sound like Chopin to me” Trent looked up to the ceiling and listened to the melody with his twin sister, who was sitting next to him on the couch.

“How was she doing?”

“She misses this Duncan, but she will be okay. She probably just wants to have her music now and – do you think she composed this herself? It doesn’t sound like what she is usually playing” Trent still looked up, while his sister jumped off the couch.

“She is so talented. I know, I know, right now is a really bad time for her; but she deserves that someone recognises her talent and make her a big start”

~*~

“Olivia, please. I don’t want any of this. I like my life the way it is”

“You can’t be serious, Claudia. I have never seen you happier than when you play music and why shouldn’t you make your money from it?” Olivia did not give up convincing Claudia to open a letter she was holding of a record company. Olivia had managed to tape Claudia’s music and sent it to a company, but the immortal did not want to hear about it.

“My life is how it should be. I have no intentions of changing it. Besides, what could fame do for me? Life is short and I rather spend it with people I love than with any record company or spotlight”, Claudia grabbed the letter and ripped it in two.

She did not feel well about what Olivia had done, but she would feel even more uncomfortable if the two people she trusted the most would call her insane if they found out about her true reason.

“That’s another thing. How come I never see you date anyone? You are beautiful and talented, but you don’t want to profit from either of them. Has anyone hurt you? What about this Duncan, or… was there more to him? Did you love him?” Olivia asked one question after the other while the two women took the stairs up towards Olivia’s and Trent’s flat, where Claudia suddenly stopped.

“Olivia, I appreciate you want to help me”, Claudia leaned against Olivia’s shoulder for a moment before parting to move on to her own floor, when Olivia did not quite let go yet, “But what about Duncan? What was he to you?”

~*~

“Who was the man bringing you home last night? You didn’t look alright – do you feel better?” Olivia took Claudia’s hand who returned from the bakery.

“His name is Walter. He met years ago, and he was a friend of Duncan too – they once performed Shakespeare together. I am not so much a theatre fan, but I think Trent would have loved it” Claudia was still feeling dizzy and was glad that her friend helped her back to her flat.

It was too careless of her to leave Walter’s present on the couch.

Olivia saw the poster right away and her mind was full of questions.

“It is hard to explain. I was surprised this even still existed” Claudia could not keep Olivia from taking the poster. It was a picture of Claudia Jardine with her name written in large letters. A date for the concert was dated twenty years ago and yet Claudia had not aged a day.

“How is this possible?”

“Please, I never told anyone. Only Walter and Duncan knew, and only because they are like me”, Claudia was flooded with emotions. She had to sit down and let the bakery bag fall to the ground.

“I am not like the rest of you. We are different and – we can’t die”

“You are joking, aren’t you?”

“That’s why I never told anyone. No one would believe me. It all happened so fast and my only concern was my music. It was the one thing I didn’t want to give up, and I should be dead. Someone should have taken my head and not Duncan’s. He was the fighter, he was meant to stay alive” The immortal could not hold back the tears, while Olivia dropped the poster on the couch and returned to her friend’s side.

The mortal woman did not ask any more question this day.

Friendship is trust and trust was all Claudia asked for – and to play music just for her friends.

_The end._


End file.
